Potboilers

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

I’m a regular droring machine

Here’s my output for the last four days. I’m nothing if not productive. I’m also stinky and unshaven and wondering quite how I can wriggle out of this editorial straightjacket I’ve made for myself. I reckon on about 1 in 4 of my drawings turning out to my satisfaction (with all the others making me wince). I’m not sure that I got anywhere near that ratio with this batch.

The orange one’s for a pensions mag- if in doubt a bit of a Soviet Socialist Realism pastiche always does the trick.

The cloud ones are for a piece about school leavers applying to college (some sort of safety net exists if they fail their entrance exams). I quite like the detail version but I’m not sure I’m cut out for these type of jobs- I don’t think the heavy symbolism sits well with my clear line style. Then again it’s a solution I suggested so I’ve only got myself to blame!

The tv one is a newspaper section cover: a bit on tvs no longer having off switches. Interesting composition but a little-I dunno- straightforward.

The newsreader on a trapdoor one is a regular spot (from ‘Newsreader on a Trapdoor Weekly Gazette’). Whilst the copy, though doesn’t give too much scope for flights of fancy., the AD and Editor are always nice guys to work with- they’re never difficult about roughs and give me pretty much free reign.

The clones piece was quite the opposite- directed by three people (2 in the US one in London) with amends coming in throughout the weekend. I always used to think I didn’t mind being spoon fed an idea but when a commissioner has a very particular scene in mind it can make for a fraught job. (It can feel a bit like being a police sketch artist: ‘no, I think the eyes need to be a little more menacing’).

Ah, whatever. I've cleared the decks for the moment. Now to catch a shower and think about some personal projects